The primary reason I’m stressing selecting a niche has to do with the fact that there are two basic steps to acquiring a new client: attracting their initial attention and then motivating them to do business with you.

It may come as a bit of a surprise, but of these two, getting a prospect’s initial attention is often the most challenging part of the whole process. The world is so noisy, with so many marketing messages, it’s tough to break through ...

One common question that comes up is, “Will blogging really get me more new clients?”

The answer is YES, and here’s why:

A blog can help establish and sustain your position as a thought leader in your field.

Each time you publish a blog post, it draws people to your site. If we correctly design the frame that appears around your blog post, your blog becomes a powerful tool for getting people to sign up for your email list and purchase other products and services you offer.

If you’re not already, joining groups on LinkedIn is a great way to get a lot of very high quality leads.

Let’s drill down and discuss how precisely to leverage this.

All you have to do is put your keywords in the search box at the top of any LinkedIn page, and groups will show up in the results. Also, LinkedIn will suggest groups they think you will like based on the information you have filled out on your profile. Just click ...

It may seem ironic, but the biggest mistake most business owners make with a press release is that they focus it on what they want to communicate about their business and their products. How- ever, when you’re pitching the media, the reality is that they don’t care about your book, business, or free report. The media wants story ideas that will get people to watch or listen to their show, buy their paper or magazine, or visit their website. Thus, ...

Let’s talk about competition. Although it may sound a bit strange, ideally what you want is bad competition. What I mean by this is that there are enough competitors to make you feel good about the viability of the niche, but they’re doing a lousy job at marketing their products or services. By implementing a marketing funnel, you should be able to capture a nice share of the market.

If there’s intense competition in a niche and they seem to be doing ...

At the risk of stating the obvious, the success of any company depends upon having a consistent flow of new prospective clients. Unfortunately, far too many businesses rely solely on their existing clients and referrals as their primary methods for get- ting new business. While this may prove to be a successful strat- egy in the short term, it invariably leads to the “feast or famine” roller coaster that so many businesses experience.

How much money is your niche able or willing to spend? Are you selling to bigger corporations or smaller ones? To the affluent or the almost broke?

You can accept as gospel that some of your prospects will think your prices are too high. In reality that has more to do with how well you communicate the benefits, but the market you choose to sell to will also influence how much you can charge. You can ...